As a painter, colours are my language, my passion, and my muse. I often dream about hues and imagine them before creating a work of art. For me, the planning and composition of colours drive my artistic expression. This painting is titled “Hues And Portrait 5”, an acrylic on canvas with a size of 32 by 32 inches, I have merged beautiful hues, dots, patterns and a portrait of a lady wearing comb earrings.
In this painting series, I decided to break away from the traditional white background and instead use popping colours to create a striking contrast with the portrait. The focus of this art series is on the background hues. The imaginary portrait in this piece is wearing comb earrings that complement or contrast the background colour, making the painting colourful and captivating.
I have a fondness for including comb earrings in most of my female portrait/figure paintings. To me, combs are symbols of beauty, playing an essential role in the creation, maintenance, and decoration of hairstyles that make women look beautiful. Across many African societies, the hair comb symbolises status, group affiliation, and religious beliefs, and is encoded with ritual properties. The handles of combs are decorated with objects of status, such as headrests, human figures, and motifs that reference nature and the traditional spiritual world. Archaeological records of burials and oral histories in modern societies provide insight into the process of imbuing this inanimate object with non-material powers.
“Hues And Portrait 5” is an expression of my inner aesthetics, a burst of colours from my soul. In a world that can seem crazy at times, I hope this painting allows others to see, feel and enjoy the inner pops of hues that I’ve shared with the world.
